EVANSVILLE - The Tri-State Food Bank received a donation of enough processed venison Thursday afternoon to provide a meal for up to 2,400 people.

Scott Hurt, chairman of Hoosiers Feeding the Hunger for Posey, Vanderburgh and Warrick counties, delivered the ground meat and encouraged hunters to donate their field-dressed deer to the nonprofit organization. Donated deer can be dropped off at Dewig Deer Processing in Owensville or at Tony Rutledge Deer Processing in Mount Vernon, Ind.

"It will fly out very quickly," said Tri-State Food Bank Director Mary Blair. "It's highly nutritious and low in fat, so it's a really great product to have help feed our hungry."

Beyond killing and field-dressing the animal, there's no cost for the hunter. Hurt, whose full time job is as a special operations sergeant with the Evansville Police Department, absorbs the processing fees for the meat and then donates it to the Tri-State Food bank.

Processing costs approximately $70 per deer.

"This is my one give back to the community," said Hurt, who began donating processed venison in 2007.

From the processing site, the food bank receives the meat and then distributes the venison to the various food pantries, abuse shelters, soup kitchens and other agencies they provide with aid, Blair said.

Tuesday afternoon Hurt unloaded the first drop-off of the season of 12 boxes of ground venison. The meat was ground packaged into one-pound portions at Dewig's.

In 2007, hunters donated 65 deer, or roughly 3,500 pounds of meet, through the chapter. Two years ago, they donated 121 deer, nearly 6,500 pounds of processed venison, he said. Last year, an outbreak of bluetongue, a drought-related disease that was found in deer in more than 40 Hoosier counties, left deer donations lower than average, Hurt said.

The average deer is expected to yield about 50 pounds of product, however, Southwestern Indiana deer average out closer to 55 pounds, he said.

The nonprofit's overhead is low, and their only expense is the cost of fronting the processing fee.

Firearms deer season ends Dec. 1, archery season ends Jan. 5, and muzzleloader season is Dec. 7 to Dec. 22, so Hurt expects plenty more deer to process before the end of the season.

To raise money for processing, Hoosiers Feeding the Hungry has its third fundraiser scheduled 1-4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 1, at Resurrection Catholic Church cafeteria. Tickets are $10, which includes door prize registration and samples of 10 different dishes made from venison.

Hurt has his sights set beyond deer meat donations, and he hopes also to be able to donate processed chicken, beef and pork in the future.

For more information, visit hoosiersfeedingthehungry.org or call Hurt at 812-306-3396.